Government is the oldest, largest and most pervasive lawbreaker in America. Lawbreaking by government in terms of cost and the number of people victimized is of a scale unmatched by any other organization or group — leaving nothing as a close second.
Government has injected itself into nearly every aspect of private affairs, and has taken an excessive, intrusive and omnipotent view of what are public matters.
Given the vast and unilateral authority it claims to have over so much of society and property, government has unmatched opportunity for lawbreaking.
It makes and rigs the rules in its favor. It cloisters and covers up its lawlessness, and makes it almost impossible to challenge its lawbreaking when exposed.
Government lawbreaking is bringing down the greatest and fairest engine of prosperity in history — the American economy. Political establishment lawbreaking is economically and morally rotting America from within.
Government has become a bully to the very people it is supposed to protect and keep free.
The irony is that government lawbreaking is done mostly under the guise and misnomer of the rule of law. The law has become one big slap in the face to all Americans.
The American history of freedom is different from other nations’ because our Constitution was written to secure liberty better than any system of government in history. Americans have an advantage others throughout history seeking their freedom did not have: We have a structure and process designed to protect freedom.
The Constitution, though, does not run on automatic pilot. It is not a passive guarantee of freedom. The Constitution must be enforced on government. Adherence to the Constitution is the very foundation of American exceptionalism.
While people tend to think of government as protection from lawbreakers, and indeed it should be, the reality is that we now need protection from government lawbreaking.
We now live in a regulatory state where government doesn’t enforce the law so much as it picks the winners and losers in private matters. Government has corrupted the law so that it is no longer protection against the “bad guys.”
The political establishment has actually come to rely on government lawbreaking, and there is no one policing government.
Most government lawbreaking goes undisclosed for a variety of reasons, so documenting government lawbreaking is difficult. Government operates more and more in secrecy. It violates public transparency laws to hide its lawbreaking. Government uses intimidation and bribery to silence whistleblowers.
When people know the government has violated the law, the government’s reaction tends to be “So sue us.” Government, though, has also rigged the rules for obtaining legal remedies. Justice is denied and government lawbreaking is protected through judge-made doctrines.
The United States 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, for example, invoked a judge-made doctrine called “standing” to deny Virginia’s constitutional challenge to Obamacare. What an outrage! Federal judges protect government lawbreaking by refusing to give citizens and states their day in court to protect their constitutional rights.
Five frequent ways that government violates the law are:
* The president uses executive orders to exceed his authority granted by the Constitution;
* Government requires permits for, then manipulates the permit process to deny, the free exercise of First Amendment rights;
* Government engages in unreasonable searches and seizure without following the standards and rigors of the Fourth Amendment;
* Government investigations are used to bully people and companies into parting with their rights; and
* The executive branch refuses to comply with transparency laws, and thereby hides its other forms of lawbreaking.
The preceding was adapted from the authors’ “The Law That Governs Government: Reclaiming The Constitution From Usurpers And Society’s Biggest Lawbreaker,” available at ReclaimTheConstitution.com.
